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PHP Browser Persistent Data with PHP Data Persistence on the Web Checking for Sessions

Posted by Andrew mwendo
Andrew mwendo
5,712 Points

help i am confused

Challenge Task 1 of 2

Check that each of the required session variables are not set before attempting to write the story. If the session variables are not set, redirect to play.php with the p parameter set to the first missing session variable.

story.php 
<?php
session_start();
if(isset($_SESSION['word'][1] && $_SESSION['word'][2] && $_SESSION['word'][3] && $_SESSION['word'][4] && $_SESSION['word'][5])){

$word1 = htmlspecialchars($_SESSION['word'][1]);
$word2 = htmlspecialchars($_SESSION['word'][2]);
$word3 = htmlspecialchars($_SESSION['word'][3]);
$word4 = htmlspecialchars($_SESSION['word'][4]);
$word5 = htmlspecialchars($_SESSION['word'][5]);

include 'inc/header.php';

echo '<h1>My Treehouse Story</h1>';

echo '<p>There once was a(n) ' . $word1;
echo ' programmer named ' . $word2; 
echo '. </p>';
echo '<p>This ' .  $word3; 
echo ' programmer used Treehouse to learn to ' . $word4;
echo ' the ' . $word5 . '.</p>';

echo ' <a class="btn btn-default btn-lg" href="#" role="button">Save Story</a>';
echo ' <a class="btn btn-default btn-lg" href="play.php" role="button">Play Again</a>';
echo ' <a class="btn btn-default btn-lg" href="index.php" role="button">Other Stories</a>';


include 'inc/footer.php';

}else{
header('Location: play.php');
}
Ben Payne
Ben Payne
1,464 Points

You need to warp each $_SESSION array check in isset() in your if statement:

if (isset($_SESSION['word'][1]) && isset($_SESSION['word'][2])) {
 //
}

A better way to handle this would be to just check that the $_SESSION['word'] count does not equal five. If so redirect and exit, else write out the story.

if (count($_SESSION['word']) != 5) {
    header('Location: play.php');

    exit; // always exit after redirecting
}

// ...

2 Answers

Josh Carter
Josh Carter
5,737 Points
Josh Carter
Josh Carter
5,737 Points

I don't know if this is the best code to get the result, but it works.

First I'm redirecting if the $_SESSION['word'] array is empty, back to the beginning of the game. This might not be necessary.

Then for each variable I am checking if that variable can receive data from the $_SESSION, otherwise I am redirecting to the page that needs to be completed for that value to be used in the variable.

<?php
session_start();
if(empty($_SESSION['word'])) {
  header('Location: play.php');
}
if (isset($_SESSION['word'][1])) { $word1 = htmlspecialchars($_SESSION['word'][1]); } else { header('Location: play.php'); }
if (isset($_SESSION['word'][2])) { $word2 = htmlspecialchars($_SESSION['word'][2]); } else { header('Location: play.php?p=2'); }
if (isset($_SESSION['word'][3])) { $word3 = htmlspecialchars($_SESSION['word'][3]); } else { header('Location: play.php?p=3'); }
if (isset($_SESSION['word'][4])) { $word4 = htmlspecialchars($_SESSION['word'][4]); } else { header('Location: play.php?p=4'); }
if (isset($_SESSION['word'][5])) { $word5 = htmlspecialchars($_SESSION['word'][5]); } else { header('Location: play.php?p=5'); }
Ben Payne
Ben Payne
1,464 Points

The only thing I would add is an exit; statement after setting the header.

Cheers, Ben

Andrew mwendo
Andrew mwendo
5,712 Points
Andrew mwendo
Andrew mwendo
5,712 Points

Ben payne,its not working still